Wait… there may be some truth to that. But what is a wood hoarder really?

Is it storing piles of wood like this….?

Or this?

I did at least take the wood from the first picture and organize it.

Or maybe one might call me a wood hoarder because I used a box trailer to move some “stuff” out of my shop. And instead of moving said “stuff”... it ended up sitting in front of my garage holding… Yep… you guessed it… scraps of wood.

But it could be that every time some one says they have some scraps for me my van looks like this…

It’s very hard to tell… but this latest haul of “scraps” isn’t really scraps. The bucket maybe.. yeah. Some scraps. But I ended up with 2 – 12’ boards, 8 – 10’ boards and plus some others. These are pine. But they are also kiln dried pine. They are also 2×6’s. Trust me… I’ve got some plans for these babies. :)

So I decided NOT to look up what a “hoarder” is and instead decided to share with you MY meaning of this term that is all too often used to label woodworkers like myself. I’ve decided that a hoarder is someone who not only collects wood… BUT (and this is the key)... merely collects and does not USE. So if you only collect the piles of wood and scraps… you area hoarder.

HOWEVER… (here’s my redemption)... If you actually USE these said piles… you can be called a “wood rescuer”... or maybe an upcycler… and maybe even something as simple as creative or resourceful. LOL

Is this working for you guys at all? Are you buying it??? LOL :)

Ok… So two weekends ago I used up some scraps that I had on hand and made these two paint storage shelves…

And yesterday I did the same thing. I made some more storage solutions and used scraps from the pile of lumber in the first two pics I showed you above. Here’s the deal. I have this storage garage that my old boss lets me use. It’s close by and pretty good sized. I started using it to store things from my garage when I was first converting my garage into a shop. Then I got a load of wood from a friend (he was going to burn it all to get it out of his way) and I used it there. It’s kinda been the place for me to unload my wood hauls that I get. That’s what you see in the first two pics. That’s my storage garage. I don’t know the exact size but I know that its larger than 24×24. Maybe a 30×30. Yes it has electric and heat/cooling. But the electric usually remains off at the breaker. I can’t really afford the expense of keeping it heated or cooled.

Anyhow… most of this wood is in piles and the piles keep getting bigger. I’ve had a great desire to use this wood up lately but it’s hard to really know what I have. I went a while back and put some shelves up as you see in the pics above. This weekend I decided I wanted to get the garage organized. As I said… I have all sorts of things stored there that were from my garage. And they too were very unorganized. I had totes in three different corners. Yesterday me and my three younger kids went over there and built some shelving for the totes. This was the first step in getting the space organized. My two boys were helpful in fetching and moving things for us. But my daughter and I built these shelves. (Wish I would have taken pics of the space before.

The size was determined by the lumber we had available. The height… the longest 2×4’s we had.First section.

All filled up

Then the second.. this one didn’t take as long to build.

And now all the totes are along this wall instead of scattered all over the garage. And the best thing… I can pull out a single tote at any time to see what is in it. I HATED having to unstack things just to see what was in each.

Each shelf is 5’ in height. We originally had the length of the shelves as 6’. But we were determined to use the materials we had and we found that the shelves were a bit sturdier when we decreased it to 64”. That was also the magic number to allow for the three large totes to fit that are in the bottom. Since these are two separate shelves we also attached them to the wall to keep them from tipping or racking. The unit on the right I added some brackets under the shelves straight to the wall to give added support.

So… in an effort to get my shop at home more organized I am first getting this storage garage organized so that it can hold all my lumber and be easily accessed. Next step is to make a lumber rack on the wall. I can’t wait. Then I will be able to get all the lumber out of my shop and other things (like two of the three scroll saws I have) out of the way.

I’m pretty excited. And therefore… since I’m USING all this wood that I have been hoarding… I mean… Collecting… I am not a wood hoarder. I am a lumber rescuer.

Hope you enjoyed my very long blog today. And I hope you had a wonderful weekend. :)

23 comments so far

Very nice, Angie. I’m a wood hoarder too! You never know when you’ll need it!!I just brought in a ton of maple plywood and had to find a place for it.I love organizational projects to keep the stuff in the right place so you can retrieve!!

Jim

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!! Variety is the Spice of Life!!

I think most woodworkers appreciate a good piece of wood. I have some pine pieces from my Dad’s collection of 1945 crates that he and my uncle turned into cabins for hunter/fishermen in Northern Wis., and book matched interiors of knotty pine.

I just used some cedar to make the frame for a custom window that I picked up in a a dumpster from my office 15 years ago.

It might be hoarding if it’s not used? Or organized? And in the way?

Looks like you continue to make progress. Just protect those feet? LOL (your old posting)

Looks great. I dont think their is such a thing as a hoarder in woodworking. Just various degrees of thriftyness. There is ALWAYS future projects just laying around or stored, in the form of lumber waiting to be used. Sounds much better dont it? LOL

Angie, I don’t see hoarding…. I see thrifty saving!!! Its the wood we chuck out that’s the wood we wish we still had. I do understand that space is always a problem. But don’t despair, just keep rotating and tidying up your stockpile as neat as possible and it will work out ok.

No… I don’t have any wood stored under my bed. That’s where I keep all my woodworking magazines. LOL!!!

Yea Doc. I have three scroll saws. The original one that I got for $5 when I started. I never had blades for it though. Then a friend gave me one. It worked pretty good. Then… I got a really nice one from another friend. So I need to let go of the first two. And my feet are doing good. No obstacles on my way to the shop :)

I have lots of scrap pieces of plywood. And my next project (lumber rack) will use up quite a bit of those scraps. Of course… they are scraps that someone else would have thrown out as too small. Not me though

A girl can never have too much good wood ;) ok sorry that was my sorry mind working in my head, but honestly I find myself doing the same thing. I pick up wood and old furniture out of the trash if it has usable pieces. I find myself holding onto ever spare scrap of hardwood and cut off “just in case”. What usually makes me happy is when I put a project together using resalvaged or wood is been saving for a while. When it comes together, it does 2 things for me: 1) usually makes a useable piece of furniture from essential scrap, and 2) makes more room in my shop. It’s like a win win